Business:

The Pentagon’s F-35 program office on Friday said it was “laser-focused” on finishing development of the software needed for the U.S. Marine Corps to start using its Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets from mid-2015.

The U.S. Navy said Jan. 27 it was sticking with Raytheon as prime contractor for next-generation radar-jamming technology seen valued at billions of dollars in coming years, despite a November ruling by the U.S. Government Accountability Office that upheld a protest against the award.

Moog Inc. is scheduled in March to test whether its new system will allow users to launch Hellfire missiles from combat vehicles and boats in addition to being fired by helicopters and airplanes. That capability has been on the Army’s wish list for years, company officials said.

The Pentagon has notified Congress of a possible sale of weapons and other equipment valued at $270 million that would be part of a larger, multibillion-dollar deal for 30 more F-16s that is still under discussion by Lockheed Martin Corp and the United Arab Emirates.

United Technologies Corp. is considering the future of America’s leading helicopter maker, Sikorsky, and whether to sell, spinoff or forge a strategic merger for the manufacturer of the Black Hawk, one of the world’s most popular military helicopters, sources said.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is often touted as the most advanced fighter in the world, whose complex systems are held together by millions of lines of code. So when the Pentagon’s top weapons tester declares the current software “unacceptable,” it tends to make waves in the defense world.

A settlement of a dispute over the canceled A-12 aircraft calls for Boeing to build three more EA-18G electronic attack planes for the U.S. Navy, but those jets will not extend the F/A-18 production line in St. Louis, Mo., according to Navy officials and company executives.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency should consider redesigning a key part of its ground-based missile defense system after a series of test failures in recent years, the Pentagon’s chief arms tester said in a new report due to be released Jan. 29.

Brig. Gen. Bryan T. Roberts publicly warned his troops at Fort Jackson, S.C., last spring that he and the Army had “zero tolerance for sexual harassment and sexual assault.” Here’s what the Army didn’t tell the soldiers: At the time, Roberts himself was under investigation by the military over allegations that he physically assaulted one of his mistresses on multiple occasions.

The reality of finalizing the fiscal 2015 budget submission is driving top U.S. defense officials and the White House to quickly make major decisions, and indications are growing that the elimination of one carrier and one carrier air wing could be among the defense request’s key features.

Veterans:

It’s an impudent question, but one that naturally surfaces given the outrage rolling in from assorted veterans’ groups as Congress and the Pentagon seek ways to trim government spending that sometimes affect those who have volunteered to fight America’s wars.

The Department of Veterans Affairs ordered $241 million of cadaver tissue and other material derived from human and animal bodies in the last three years, some of it from vendors warned by federal regulators about contamination in their supply chain.

John Brenan rolled his Jeep into freshly bombed Hiroshima in 1945 on a reconnaissance mission to see if there was any enemy left to fight. The only enemy the Army sergeant found in the miles of rubble pulverized by America’s atomic attack was the one he couldn’t see – radiation.

Troops, veterans, and military families are used to being roughed up – by deployments, frequent moves, visible and invisible injuries, combat deaths, and so on. They’ve been at war for more than a decade while the civil-military divide has grown wider. But the continued use and abuse of the military and veteran community by politicians in Washington is an indignity that needs to end.

More than 300 Libyan Army recruits have arrived in Italy for basic training, part of a program that seeks to provide the struggling Libyan government with a viable military force, but may also kick-start Tripoli’s stalled defense procurement program.

Five years after President Obama vowed to expand U.S. relations with the Arab world and the broader Middle East, his administration is under fire from allies worried that the United States is scaling back its historic role as a power broker and peacemaker despite growing turmoil across the region.

As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry finalizes proposals for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, rifts remain as vast as this strategic valley west of the Jordan River that much of the international community wants Israel to give up.

An upcoming Anglo-French summit could breathe fresh life into a bilateral defense relationship seen as faded, with industry waiting to hear if there is progress on an anti-ship missile and a future combat drone for the two nations.

India is set to become the first country since World War II to buy a military aircraft from Japan, helping Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dismantle a ban on weapons exports that has kept his country’s defence contractors out of foreign markets.

Viewpoint:

As the fiscal year 2015 defense budget is finalized and the fiscal pressure of sequestration endures, there has been informed speculation that the Air Force will seek to retire its A-10 Warthog fleet. Congress has already prevented such a move in the National Defense Authorization Act, but yet the fight continues. Last week, RCD featured a proposal to transfer the A-10 to the Army. This week, J. Furman Daniel, III offers 10 good reasons to save the beloved A-10.

Local military discounts

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